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…might be all the calories your body needs for the day! It is no mystery that obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S.. Our lack of control over weight maintenance is such a significant health crisis that legislation is being written and enacted to “save us from ourselves”. Some of the lawmakers give consumers the benefit of the doubt; for example, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA)

passed in 1990 and enacted in 1994 required all foods packaged and sold in grocery stores or food marts to bear Nutrition Facts panels, which inform consumers of not only fat and calorie contents, but also the “good” information such as protein and vitamins. More importantly, the panels have to also indicate percent daily values. Basically, lawmakers went so far as to assume that the customer is uneducated as to what their body needs each day. And yet, 18 years later, obesity is still on the rise.

Lawmakers seem to think the consumer simply cannot be to blame, and it seems that they have turned the attack on the Food-away-from-home (FAFH) sector. In 2008, New York was the first state to mandate that restaurants post or provide nutrition content in menu items. Some California cities now do this as well. Obesity is still on the rise, and studies on the impact of these changes

have showed weak results and minimal change. Just weeks ago, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was able to sign into law an act which banned the sale of soft drink larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, convenience marts and movie theaters.

If the 2012 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is enacted, soon nutrition content labeling in the FAFH sector will be a federal mandate. This seems like a good idea to me, since today in the U.S. We eat about 40 percent of our food intake away from home. But is lack of information really our dilemma? A study which looked at how and why Americans eat fast food showed that 50 percent considered it a “treat”, and have no interest in health when ordering from a fast-food menu.

I think it’s great that our government is concerned about our health, but people need to take some personal responsibility . I feel that weight gain itself is enough of a physical cue that whatever we are eating, it is more than we need. To claim consumer ignorance to nutrition content is a huge cop-out and unneccessarily points a finger in the wrong direction.

Left: Healthy brain tissue. Right: Brain tissue belonging to former NFL player John Grimsley who suffered 9 concussions during his career.

Football is back. Heck, I’m watching a football game as I write this.

Week 1 of America’s favorite pastime played out over the weekend. With all of the amazing displays of speed, strength and athleticism also come concussions. A few players suffered concussions Sunday. I can recall seeing at least one player — Tennessee Titans wide receiver Nate Washington — being knocked unconscious.

But concussions also have a major presence in youth football. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 175,000 kids are sent to the hospital each year due to sports-related brain injuries, most of which are suffered while playing football.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer announced his support for a new legislation designed to improve the standards for youth and high school football helmets.

“Scientists compare the brain to Jell-O, or an egg yolk, or an oyster, or fettuccine Alfredo — it’s hard to get the metaphor just right when you’re dealing with the seat of consciousness — but the point is that you’re not supposed to jiggle it. The brain is not a snow globe. Neurons don’t simply settle back down after a vigorous shake.

“No helmet can prevent the head from stopping short, nor keep the cortex (thinking, vision), basal ganglia (messaging neurons), frontal lobes (problem solving, judgment) and temporal lobes (hearing, memory) from sloshing forward and banging into bone. That’s when the damage occurs, damage that shows up in postmortem staining tests as heinous brown splotches. Yes, it’s true, football turns the brain brown. Football makes the brain look like a football.”

Concussions in football have become a major headline as a rash of ex-players have said they believe they are living with the symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive, degenerative brain disease that is found post-mortem and often in people who have suffered multiple concussions. The symptoms include psychosis, dementia and depression, to name a few. A few players have committed suicide in the past couple of years, and CTE was later detected in their brains. Numerous current and former players have already signed a waiver to donate their brains to science after they are gone.

But no matter the safety regulations implemented to curb concussions, be it safer headgear, banning hits to the head, limiting the number of plays that a high school or youth player can spend on the field, concussions will always be a risk for any football player.

The only way to truly avoid them in football … is to not play football. Due to what is being discovered by scientists, more and more parents, including some NFL players, are demanding that their children take that route instead.

I’ve been committed to buying organic produce for several years now, and on average I’ve noticed that I pay almost double for my organic produce. There has been plenty of research foretelling of the dangers of consuming excessive pesticides which we assume to be found on regular produce. But Stanford University released a study which has made me reconsider the necessity of my expensive preference. Study author Dr. Dena Brevata says that overall there is little difference or impact on health for adults whether we consume organic or regular produce.

There are of course, some benefits in choosing organics. For one thing, it’s better for the environment to produce food without using toxic chemicals. The study also showed that antioxidants were richer in organic produce than in that residues in childrens’ urine was 30 percent lower when they switched to organic produce.

To keep costs low and stick with the greener option, I reccommend choosing grocery stores like Sprouts and Trader Joes rather than the pricier Whole Foods. Check out your local farmer’s markets as well, this is a good way to find veggies free from pesticides and support your local growers.

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It common knowledge that sugary soda drinks help add empty calories, which leads to weight gain if not careful. Now, Coca-Cola is developing a mid-calorie soda that uses a combination of natural sweeteners instead of artificial. The new formula will have 70 calories per a 12-ounce can. Granted this can help cut off some calories from a diet since a can of regular Sprite has 140 calories and Fanta has 160 calories. Yet the best recommendation to reduce calories is to omit sodas all together–even with natural sweeteners, because it is still an empty caloric soft drink. But if a soda alternative won’t do, then having the option of choosing a lower caloric value is a better choice.

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With the rising numbers of caregivers attending to the needs of elderly or disabled members of the family, so does the emotional and physical toll on them as well. If they don’t have a release for the pent up stress, it will cause havoc on their health. A recent study found by the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, that practicing a routine of yoga, meditation and Tai Chi not only helps to reduce stress on an emotional and mental level but also on a cellular level. The study explains that cells are helped by increasing the activity of DNA sequencing that helps to maintain the longevity of the cell.